Well, it’s coming to the end of October, and all those nice, cheery, wholesome pieces you’ve been using to train your ears… BEGONE! It’s time for something a little more bone-chilling. We’re taking a look at some of the music that’ll help get you in that Halloween acoustic.

Songs for Younger Goblins

If you’re looking for simple songs to play with children, look no further than Listen & Learn‘s Halloween section, with lots of singalong videos. Or pick up some beginner piano music with a Halloween flavour at Music for Music Teachers.

And don’t forget our own spooky song this year:

• Halloween Is Coming Soon! (free download)

WARNING: The rest of this post contains content and some language which may not be suitable for younger visitors… Beware all who read on……

Author Spotlight

Site author Sabrina Peña Young is not just a talented composer, but an innovative intermedia artist too. If the short film and startling modern piano score above don’t get you in the Halloween mood, try this longer scary animation, featuring lots of those scary sound effects, recording techniques and minor chords and scales you’ve been learning about!

Click to read the rest…

Your teenage daughter can rattle off the lyrics to her 320 favorite tunes on her iPod but doesn’t remember you asking her to babysit her younger brother on Saturday night. Your high school senior can improv the sweetest guitar riff complexities by ear on the spot, yet blanks out during the chemistry lecture at school.

What is it about music that imprints a solid memory in adults and teens? Are there ways to use music to improve communication and high school performance? How important is listening? Can music improve parent and teen communication? How important is ear training for young musicians and teens?

Music and Teen Identity

What is your teen thinking?

Every parent attempts to answer this question. Try paying attention to your teen’s latest playlist. Listening to music has become a large part of identity in Click to read the rest…

Steel Pole Bath Tub were an undeniably prolific band, releasing somewhere in the neighborhood of ten EPs and LPs between the years 1987 and 1995, as well as a heaping handful of singles. But even this level of productivity wasn’t enough for these noise-rock weirdoes, and the 90’s found the main members of SPBT participating in two fully-fledged side projects: Tumor Circus (with Jello Biafra), and Milk Cult, which was basically a pseudonym the band used when they wanted to explore their more sample-based, abstract electronic side. Some folks call it “industrial,” and as much as I’m not eager to describe this music as such (it’s not like it’s rooted in the KMFDM aesthetic) I guess that comes fairly close to hitting the mark.

I heard Milk Cult’s Burn or Bury (the band’s second release) shortly after it was released in 1994, and found myself particularly excited about it because the album featured guest spots from two members of one of my all-time favorite bands (still true): Faith No More. Billy Gould, Faith No More’s bass player, does a guest spot on guitar on a pummeling, metal-laced track called “Bow Kiness Static.” And it’s cool. But what I was really excited about was hearing the guest vocals that Mike Patton contributed to the album’s opener, “Psychoanalytwist.”

Patton’s now widely known as a highly experimental vocalist, but in ’94, he was still branching out, and a vocal turn like the one he pulls out on this song, while not completely out of left field, definitely felt like a step in a new direction. And that was exciting to me. But what was really exciting, and what kept me coming back, was the song itself. Patton’s vocals end up being only one part of what is not only an infectious and catchy tune, but also an unassumingly intricate one, which covers a lot of ground in three and a half minutes.

Milk Cult – “Psychoanalytwist”
 

The song opens with heavy breathing in the right channel, followed by a Click to read the rest…